What's News? -- Journalism in Hong Kong After 1997

Hong Kong Studies Lecture by Chris Yeung (CitizenNews) and Francis L.F. Lee (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Under the setup of “one country, two systems”, Hong Kong is to enjoy the freedom of the press as stipulated in the Basic Law. From the scrutiny of government policies to reports of the anti-extradition protests, journalists have played a vital role in Hong Kong’s civil society. However, with increasing restrictions on free speech, which have intensified under the National Security Law, what are the prospects of press freedom in Hong Kong? What will be the position of journalists in the re-defined state-society relationship between China and Hong Kong under the new legal framework? What constitutes “news” given the current political constraints?

Chris Yeung, a veteran journalist, is the co-founder and Chief Writer of CitizenNews, an independent Chinese digital-only media platform. He had worked with the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal for 30 years. He writes and comments regularly on Hong Kong politics and Greater China issues. He is also currently Chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

Francis L.F. Lee (PhD, Stanford University, 2003) is Professor and Director at the School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong. He works mainly in the areas of journalism studies, political communication, and media and social movements. His publications include Memories of Tiananmen: Politics and Processes of Collective Remembering in Hong Kong, 1989-2019 (Amsterdam University Press, forthcoming), Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement (Oxford University Press, 2018), Talk Radio, the Mainstream Press and Public Opinion in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 2014), and Media, Social Mobilization, and Mass Protests in Post-colonial Hong Kong (Routledge, 2011). He is also currently chief editor of the Chinese Journal of Communication.

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Duration: 49:36